Top 7 Premium Magazine-Style WordPress Themes of 2014

A shift to magazine-style themes has been a popular trend among bloggers in the last couple of years, and WordPress gave it a further boost by releasing its magazine-oriented Twenty Fourteen theme. There are several reasons why website owners find this look appealing, disregarding whether their sites feature magazine content or not. The layout of such themes is generally a little more interesting than that of regular text-oriented themes, while the front page allows users to display a bigger amount of items in a more organized fashion. Magazine themes work particularly well for frequently updated sites with multiple contributors. They are also great for blogs that are content heavy, require complex navigation, or just want to achieve a more professional, stylish look. If any of these apply to your site and you are considering switching to a responsive magazine-style theme, here are several premium options that are worth looking into.

Gonzo

Gonzo promises to simplify blogs overwhelmed with content, making their structure more logical and their design beautiful. You can easily add reviews to any of your posts either in the form of percentage ratings or stars. Gonzo has two blog styles and five layouts to choose from, and all of them can be mixed and matched to achieve a more complex design. The theme boasts attractive typography, BBPress compatibility, four post formats and a dedicated author page with built-in social media icons. Its strong support system and frequent updates are just some of the features that contributed to about 6,600 downloads to date. The theme costs $45.

Sahifa

Sahifa is a clean yet feature-rich theme that gets overwhelmingly positive feedback from users. There is a reason why more than 8,000 people chose this magazine theme for their sites. Sahifa provides a convenient rating system, a drag-and-drop homepage builder, unlimited sidebars and colors, and much more. The theme is retina-ready and compatible with BuddyPress, WooCommerce, bbPress and WPML. It comes with nine page templates, 33 custom widgets and unlimited sidebars. WooCommerce compatibility means that you can easily turn your website into an online store with the help of a simple plugin. You can buy the theme for $55.

SimpleMag

SimpleMag is a great option for bloggers who like to keep things clean and simple, but still be able to take advantage of the magazine-style look. The theme has a drag-and-drop page composer, customizable mega menu, full-width image carousel, and an easily configurable footer with three widget areas in it. It also comes with static pages, built-in review system and author pages with social profile links. Various color settings and more than 500 Google fonts will let you further customize the look of your site. This five-star theme has 3,700 downloads and costs $45.

Jarida

Another highly rated magazine theme, Jarida comes with unlimited sidebars and colors, seven page templates, 35 custom widgets and many more personalization options. It has a drag-and-drop home page builder and a rating system in multiple styles, from stars to percentages to points. Jarida also provides uploaders for your logo, favicon and Gravatar. It is WooCommerce ready, SEO friendly, and very easy to use thanks to its powerful admin panel. The developers also took care of detailed documentation, complete with video guides, FAQ section and sample content to help you learn the ropes. Close to 3,500 users found that the theme was well worth the $55 they paid for it.

Alpha

If you are looking for a theme that is closer to the traditional magazine look, but has plenty of features to work with, you might want to give Alpha a try. The theme has two skins to choose from, Magazine and Newspaper, both of which are unique and true to their names. The design is very clean, allowing users to put maximum emphasis on content without getting distracted by the theme’s subtle elements. Alpha provides a featured slideshow that can be configured for images or videos, a breaking news ticker and a video widget – all useful components for an online magazine. It takes full advantage of WordPress Post Formats feature, which makes your images, videos, audios and other post types stand apart.

The single one-time license is $75 for two products from WPZOOM, and you can choose your second bonus theme at checkout. The regular license applies to multiple domains and comes with one year of updates and support. You can also go with a $125 extended license, which will buy you three themes along with their PSD files, or you can become a WPZOOM member for $19 a month, gaining access to 53 themes and all of their PSD files.

Splash

Splash is a magazine-style theme with a sleek, clean design. You can take advantage of unlimited color schemes and unlimited backgrounds, including colors, patterns and textures. Plenty of typography options are available as well, with more than 620 Google fonts to choose from. Splash has a built-in review post type, integrated social media buttons, multi-media lightbox and 12 custom widgets. The theme is SEO ready and integrated with WooCommerce. Lots of other features are available, all for a one-time $35 fee. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the MyThemeShop club and get access to all of the site’s themes, as well as their PSD files and updates for $9 a month.

DW Focus

This popular magazine theme from Creative Market is another option worthy of your attention. Listed No. 10 on Mashable’s list of 20 Stunning Responsive WordPress Themes, DW Focus offers a modern, neat design and lots of features to go along. The theme is highly customizable, with six Category styles, grid and list Category layouts, widget-full sidebars and a powerful typography page. Other features include a news slider, quick tabs, and WordPress Plus Menu displaying 15 latest articles. The look of DW Focus was inspired by the designs of various popular news sites, so you can be sure that your online magazine will fit right in with its mainstream competitors. The one-time $49 price includes six months of support and allows you to install the theme on multiple domains. You also get lifetime upgrades and detailed documentation, including video guides. PSD source files are available upon request.

Keith is a long time affiliate marketer who has recently entered the network affiliate marketing space. He is well versed in the "technical" end of the web. For the most part Keith has stopped hand coding web sites and uses WordPress as his primary CMS.

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